Joseph Morelle, left, and Joseph Robach are among 25 lawmakers receiving an increase in pay this year, records from the state Comptroller’s Office show. / File photos

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Albany Bureau Chief

Findings

Gannett’s Albany Bureau examined state Comptroller’s Office records for state Legislature pay and found: Pay raises: Two Monroe County lawmakers were among 25 whose pay increased. The pay of Assemblyman Joseph Morelle, D-Irondequoit, rose to $114,000 from $92,000; and the pay of Sen. Joseph Robach rose to $100,000 from $92,000. Pay steady: It also found these salary totals for the rest of the Rochester-area delegation, all of whom are receiving the same as they did last year (with the exception of Nojay and O’Brien, who are new): Assembly: David Gantt, D-Rochester, $94,500; Stephen Hawley, R-Batavia, $96,000; Harry Bronson, D-Rochester, $79,500; Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, $114,000; Mark Johns, R-Webster, $88,500; Bill Nojay, R-Pittsford, $88,500; Robert Oaks, R-Macedon, $100,000; Bill Reilich, R-Greece, $97,500. Senate: George Maziarz, R-Newfane, $113,500, who is vice president pro tempore and also chairman of the Energy and Telecommunications Committee; Michael Nozzolio, R-Fayette, $101,500; Ted O’Brien, D-Irondequoit, $89,000; Michael Ranzenhofer, R-Amherst, $94,500; Patrick Gallivan, R-Elma, $92,000; Catharine Young, R-Olean, $92,000. Overall: 25 lawmakers this year are receiving an increase in pay; seven are receiving less; and the rest of the 213 members of the Legislature are getting the same pay as last year.

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ALBANY — Leadership changes in the state Legislature this year have meant higher stipends for some state lawmakers — and a decrease in pay for others.

All state lawmakers earn a base salary of $79,500, and about two-thirds of them receive additional pay for committee assignments that are determined by legislative leaders.

With the new legislative session that started in January, some lawmakers were rewarded with higher-profile leadership posts that come with bigger bucks, a review of salaries by Gannett’s Albany Bureau found. The stipends, known by some as “lulus,” are set in state statute.

Twenty-five lawmakers this year — including Joseph Morelle and Joseph Robach of Monroe County — are receiving an increase in pay, records from the state Comptroller’s Office show. Seven are receiving less, and the rest of the 213 members of the Legislature are getting the same pay as last year.

Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union, a good-government group based in New York City, said the Legislature should do away with stipends because they are used as a way for legislative leaders to wield power.

“Stipends should end, and we should have a new approach to legislative compensation,” he said. “They are used to both reward and punish lawmakers.”

Lawmakers haven’t received a raise in their base pay since 1998. Legislators outside the Albany area receive $165 for hotels and meals for each day they are in town. The federal government sets the per diem rate.

The largest salary increase, of $22,000, went to Assemblyman Morelle, D-Irondequoit, who was tapped in January as majority leader by Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan.

Morelle earned a $12,500 stipend last year for serving as chairman of the Assembly Insurance Committee. He will receive $34,500 for the majority leader post, according to records from the state Comptroller’s Office.

The majority leader oversees the floor debate each day. It is the No. 2 position in the Assembly.

“There’s no question that my responsibilities, and the time that I am spending relative to these new responsibilities, are dramatic,” said Morelle, who was first elected in 1990.

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Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins’ salary increased $20,000 when she was tapped by the Senate Democratic conference to serve as its leader. The Yonkers senator’s salary increased from $94,000 to $114,000. Conversely, the salary of the former Democratic leader, Sen. John Sampson, D-Brooklyn, dropped $23,500 when he left the post — the most of any lawmaker.

Some legislators are receiving a salary boost even after losing a committee leadership position.

In January, Sen. Robach, R-Greece, lost his Senate Labor Committee chairmanship, which came with a $12,500 stipend, as part of a bipartisan coalition established between Republicans and the four-member Independent Democratic Conference.

But Robach received an $8,000 salary increase this year. He was named deputy Senate majority whip, which comes with a $20,500 stipend, state records show. He succeeds Sen. Charles Fuschillo, R-Nassau County, in the position after Fuschillo’s stipend was bumped up to $22,000 for being secretary of the conference.

“Based on my performance and tenure in the Senate, I was offered and happy to accept the post vacated by Senator Fuschillo in the Senate leadership,” Robach said.

But Krueger this year accepted a $20,500 stipend as the ranking minority member on the Senate Finance Committee. She said the money would help pay the rent for a midtown Manhattan district office, and any cash left over would be returned to the state.

She said the Senate GOP, which controls the purse strings for senators’ offices, will give her up to $55,000 for the rent. She said she can’t find a place for less than about $75,000 in her district.

“I concluded the only way to make sure my staff wasn’t working on a sidewalk” was to use the stipend, Krueger said.

Some lawmakers were stripped of their “lulus” by legislative leaders after alleged misdeeds. Assembly Vito Lopez, D-Brooklyn, was removed as chairman of the Assembly Housing Committee last summer after he was accused of sexually harassing young female aides. He lost the accompanying $12,500 stipend, too.

Sen. Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, also lost a $12,500 stipend after federal prosecutors last month accused him of trying to bribe Republican leaders to win the New York City mayoral nomination.

Some lawmakers have to wait years to land a committee chairmanship.

Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, D-New City, Rockland County, was elected in 2007 and earned only the base pay until this year. In January, he was named co-chairman of the Administrative Regulations Review Commission, which comes with a $12,500 stipend.

The slang term “lulus” is a play on “lieu,” as in an allowance “given in lieu of payment for itemized expenses,” according to Webster’s New World dictionary. One online dictionary put out by Random House attributes the term to a facetious remark by former New York Gov. Al Smith.